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Strong Demand, Or Not (10/29/01)
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So, uh, just how is demand for the iPod? On the one hand, most pundits agree that it's the best MP3 player ever; on the other hand, it costs a whopping $399, which is a fair price for what you get, but may still be too rich for most Mac users' blood. Six days after its unveiling, we keep hearing the phrase that no doubt will be chiseled into Steve Jobs's tombstone someday: "It's amazing, incredible, and insanely great-- but I can't afford it." We're praying that this doesn't turn out to be a repeat of the Great Cube Fiasco (lots of buzz, lots of awards, no sales), but we'd be lying if we said we weren't a little worried.
A CNET article refers to the iPod's retail demand as "iffy," which doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Of course, demand is sort of hard to gauge when the product hasn't shipped-- and most retailers aren't even taking preorders yet. In lieu of hard numbers, then, CNET decided to go with the next best thing: the aptly-named "Sowhaddayathink?" method. One Apple specialist in New Hampshire indicates that "at $400, some people seem a little hesitant, but it looks like a great product." Mmm-hm. Meanwhile, CompUSA isn't taking preorders chain-wide, though "some local stores" are taking their own orders, and Circuit City hasn't even decided whether or not it's going to carry the iPod at all yet. And Apple, who is taking preorders? It "doesn't have any information about how strong demand is."
Well, that was informative. At least Micro Warehouse is reporting "higher than expected" demand for the iPod, which is a little encouraging. Apparently it's a little early to be obsessing about demand, though. We're hoping for a domino effect, ourselves... the iPod is cool enough that the "early adopters" might drive traffic to the Apple stores simply by using the things in public. Heck, as faithful viewer webstra points out, in his Newsweek article, Steven Levy reports that he even managed to hook Bill Gates, who referred to Levy's iPod as "a great product" and expressed dismay that "it's only for Macintosh." Hmmmm... Sounds like Bill's going to be trading up to a Quicksilver come November 10th. See? This product sells itself-- provided people see it, that is.
By the way, that crack about Steve's tombstone? We didn't mean to imply that Steve is mortal, or anything. We just heard he likes tombstones and has been shopping around for a nice one to decorate his herb garden. Please don't panic.
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/29/01 episode: October 29, 2001: About the iPod-- it turns out you have to use it to appreciate its finer points. Meanwhile, demand for the music player seems "iffy," and Apple employees aren't getting raises or bonuses, but at least they can score some iPods for a great price...
Other scenes from that episode: 3358: And It's All Shiny, Too (10/29/01) Okay, no more fence-sitting from us... at least, not as far as the iPod is concerned. We're still going back and forth on lesser issues, like whether moral absolutes exist in a universal sense, or whether the advent of non-strawberry-flavored Twizzlers is a major contributing factor to the breakdown of society... 3360: Ho Ho Ho, Half-Price iPods (10/29/01) It's just two days before Halloween, and you all know what that means, right? You got it: most stores have had their Christmas displays up for about three weeks now. With less than two months to go, the holiday is bearing down on us like a runaway freight train-- and frankly, we fear for the welfare of our favorite red letter day...
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